RWIU 3 February 2011

In this Update: Greetings for 2011 – Sorry RWIU missed 2010! / RWA Draft BEP2 Exhibition – Planning for the Redevelopment of HNSW Estates in Redfern & Waterloo / Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority (SMDA) takes on Planning for RWA Area / City of Sydney – City Plan (LEP & DCP) on exhibition until 4th April 2011 / Sydney University Abercrombie Street Precinct Close to Exhibition / Steps in the Recognition of Heritage / Positively Branding Redfern / Finding a Community Service

It is over a year
since we last sent out a Redfern Waterloo Issues Update (RWIU). The long
awaited exhibition of the RWA’s BEP2 has encouraged us to put together a brief
update and to think about how to distribute information out in future. The work
of producing the old updates became just too great for us given Geoff needs to
work to support us and we both have other community activities we are involved
in. So the all-encompassing RWIU’s have gone – you can see some of the things
that happened in in 2010 from the collection RWIU 2010,

We recognise there
is still a need for some mechanism to get information out to people other than
via the REDWatch website. Last year REDWatch sent out emails to more targeted
groups like people interested in Heritage, Human Services, Sydney University
and Darlington developments, but these went only to REDWatch members &
friends lists. We knew there are others with particular interests and are sorry
that many will have missed news of interest to you. So for 2011 we are trying
something new! We are setting up an Updates list on the REDWatch website that
will allow people to receive everything or more just targeted information
depending on what they want. The list is self-administering so also cuts down
on our voluntary work load. You can go to the site to choose what you wish to
receive, to change your email address or to remove yourself from the list – the
link is at the bottom of each email.

The best way of
keeping up to date broadly about Redfern & Waterloo issues is to visit the
REDWatch website www.rewdwatch.org.au
regularly or if you are experienced at using RSS feeds by setting up an RSS
feed from the Website Changes section of the site or elsewhere as you wish.
This new list will be an option for people who want key information sent to
them.

On January 27 2011
the RWA released its Built Environment Plan Two (BEP2) proposals for the future
of public housing in Redfern Waterloo. BEP2 also covered public housing in
South Eveleigh. You can download an electronic copy of the Plan from the RWA
website. The document is broken up into a number of parts so we have provided
below the direct links for the different parts of the main report. Some of the
figures (diagrams) within the report are difficult to read so the RWA has also
placed these separately on the RWA BEP2 Webpage.
From the RWA website you can download the RWA BEP2 Newsletter, (PDF 1.06MB) the BEP2
FAQs (PDF 240Kb) and a Feedback Form.

Housing NSW has
produced its own booklet for public tenants HNSW BEP2
Information Booklet for Public Tenants (PDF 1.5MB). This booklet informs
HNSW tenants about the BEP2 in the context of HNSW’s federally funded
Masterplan which will follow on from the RWA’s BEP2 consultation. HNSW has also
set up a Redfern
Waterloo section on its website. Both HNSW and the RWA are running
information sessions this month and you can find the details on the REDWatch events calendar
or on the RWA and HNSW websites.

REDWatch has
placed a new BEP2 Consultation
tab at the top of the website to cover items associated with the BEP2
exhibition. This is in addition to the Public Housing tab
where REDWatch has collected a lot of information on Public Housing issues in
preparation for BEP2 and the HNSW Masterplan to help resource local services
and tenants. Many items in this section have been supplied to REDWatch by HNSW
so they can be publically available to the community.

One of the
encouraging things about the RWA BEP2 exhibition is that it is not a statutory
exhibition of a proposed planning instrument. The RWA has learnt from the BEP1
complaints and has placed the Draft BEP2 on exhibition to get community
feedback prior to the preparation of the final development control instrument
which will be formally exhibited by the Department of Planning for a further
month. This enables the community to be involved in a discussion with the RWA which
potentially can change some of what is proposed before it goes on formal
exhibition.

What is concerning
however is that only one month has been allowed for this exhibition of the
draft, and only a very few printed copies have been made available. The emphasis
has been placed on electronic copies and on people coming to sessions organised
by the RWA and HNSW rather than getting out into the community where people are
already meeting and talking to them there. Admittedly there will be another
formal change to comment on BEP2, but with the logistics of consulting on such
major changes within a large and diverse public housing community there is
concern that one month is just not enough time. Computer access levels are
quite low among older public tenants (see 2006 Census
Data Comparison of Public and Private Tenants in Redfern and Waterloo) so
it is difficult to see how they will be able to go through the electronic
plans. The only way many will be able to access the report is to find one of
the limited number of printed exhibition copies – see Places Document can be
Viewed. It is further concerning that the HNSW brochure refers public
tenants to the RWA website and HNSW did not contain a summary of the details of
the BEP2 proposals in their publication.

Public space, parks & facilities to be outlined
in future planning studies but not in current proposed planning controls

Future planning studies to do more work on
Transport, Public Domain & Community Facilities

Comments feed into a SMDA Urban Renewal Study &
HNSW Masterplan

Final controls will be formally exhibited before
coming into effect.

A summary of this
nature is open to criticism as it reduces a complex report down to a few dot
points, so we encourage you to use this as a starter, then to download the
report and read it. Also keep an eye on the REDWatch website for comments as
they become available.

As an example of
the complexity you will see that there is some difference between REDWatch’s
point above that “Over 15 hectares or 35% more floor space than City of
Sydney proposed” and RWA’s BEP2
FAQsQ18: “How does draft BEP 2 compare to the City of Sydney
Council’s draft Local Environmental Plan (LEP)?” A: “The City of Sydney’s draft
LEP will not provide controls for the Redfern and Waterloo sites (shown in dark
blue in Figure 1 above), South Eveleigh (shown in brown in Figure 1 above) or
the Eveleigh Street sites. For other Housing NSW”sites in the Redfern-Waterloo Operational Area, BEP
2 supports the controls proposed by the City’s draft LEP”.

We think it is
important to point out that the City of Sydney undertook its own Urban Design
Study for Waterloo & Redfern in 2006 as part of its preparation of new
planning controls. The Council included significantly increased density for the
Public Housing Estates in its Draft LEP which it sent last year to the
Department of Planning (DoP) for approval to exhibit. The DoP instructed the
Council to remove its proposed controls for the consolidated HNSW land from the
formal exhibition of its LEP which also started this week. The BEP2 document
contains, in Appendix A, the comparative figures for the Council and RWA
proposals but the BEP2 does not provide totals for the changes or make an
overall comparison between the proposals. REDWatch has tabulated the figures in
REDWatch
Comparison of BEP2 and CoS Floor Space Recommendations (PDF 74Kb) to
provide its comparison. So the RWA’s answer, while technically correct, does
not provide all the information that REDWatch thinks it should. This is
important because a key part of the discussion about BEP2 is about densities
and how if there are significant increases in density how this will impact on
the area and those that live here now and in the future.

While the RWA has
prepared the Draft BEP2 the follow up plans will be done by the RWA’s successor
the SMDA. On 23 September the Minister for Planning announced the establishment
of the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority and that the RWA would be
subsumed by the new SMDA. The priority for the Authority is to focus on the
areas currently administered by the Redfern Waterloo Authority, including North
Eveleigh and the Australian Technology Park as well as Granville. RWA CEO
Roy Wakelin-King was appointed as the interim CEO. There was also an RWA Statement
on Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority issued on 29 September 2010.

The new SEPP
requires the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority (SMDA) to undertake a
planning study of the RWA’s area – the suburbs of Redfern, Eveleigh, Darlington
and Waterloo. The study is to look at a wide range of issues such as
infrastructure capacity, traffic and flood modelling, urban design outcomes,
landscaping, environmental issues and economic and social factors. The SEPP
states that consent authorities such as the City of Sydney “must not,
while a precinct is being investigated, approve projects valued at more than $5
million unless they are consistent with urban renewal objectives.”

The RWA BEP 2
study will feed into this much wider study which will be undertaken when the
Director General of Planning issues the requirements for the study. The new
planning instrument that covers local HNSW estates will be introduced under
this mechanism. It is also possible that the SMDA will recommend other areas in
Redfern Eveleigh Darlington and Waterloo where increased densities should be
introduced. These areas may be removed from the control of the City of Sydney
as has happened with the HNSW estates covered by BEP2.

The City Plan
contains the new Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan
(DCP) for the City of Sydney as well as the Draft Green Square Affordable
Housing Program and the Draft City of Sydney Competitive Design Policy. These
documents are the CoS Council’s key planning controls and will guide future
development in the city, promoting heritage, sustainability and liveability.
Please take opportunity to look at the controls (height, floor space and land
use etc) proposed for your part of the City. You will find the areas for the
RWA Draft BEP2 blank. As both RWA and CoS proposed controls are on exhibition
at the same time people may want to look at both together. Details of the City
controls can be found at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Development/CityPlan/Default.asp

In 2007 Sydney
University obtained requirements from the Department of Planning under Part 3A
for a major project as MP
07_0158 - Abercrombie Street Precinct, Syd Uni. The University proposes to
build its new Business School on the 1.92 ha site bordered by Darlington Lane,
Codrington Street, Abercrombie Street and Darlington School. In December 2010
the University sort some input from the surrounding community before finalising
their proposal and submitting it to the Department of Planning for Exhibition.
Exhibition is expected soon. At exhibition the documents should go up on
Department of Planning website. Sydney University have also set up a website
for the Abercrombie Street development at www.sydney.edu.au/abercrombie_precinct
and information will also appear on the university’s more general expansion
website at www.sydney.edu.au/facilities/projects/sac/expansion.shtml.

The University has
also placed on exhibition plans for the expansion of the Darlington campus
aquatic centre and a new sports hall. The site has frontages to Abercrombie
Street and Raglan Street and exhibition has been extended until 11th
February 2011. More details can be found on the Council’s website DA
Number D/2010/2183 or can be viewed in the USyd Services Building foyer.

This exhibition
highlighted a problem with the Council’s DA notifications system as the DA was
advertised with a City Road address even though it was to be built 300m away on
Abercrombie Street. We have asked the Council to investigate the problem to
ensure that DAs on large sites with a single address like the University,
clearly flag the actual development locations so locals can easily identify DAs
which may impact upon them.

Recently about 30
residents met to discuss the University’s Abercrombie Street Precinct plans. If
you live in the vicinity of this site and want to discuss the plans with other
residents please contact Tim Brunero on 0405285547 who can add you to their
email list.

The last year has
seen an increased focus on the importance of the area’s heritage. Following
representations from heritage groups the Premier established a Redfern Waterloo
Heritage Taskforce which met through 2010 and is due to report back to the
Premier in late February. You can find out more about the task force on the RWA
Heritage
webpage and REDWatch’s Heritage Task Force Page
– REDWatch also has a large heritage section on its website which can be
accessed under the A Future
for Heritage tab. The last year has also seen significant progress at the
ATP with its Heritage S170 Register being made available, as well as its
Heritage Interpretation Strategy – you can see these documents on ATP’s Heritage page.

As we put this
RWIU together we are waiting for the exhibition of two key heritage documents.
The first is the exhibition of the revised ATP Conservation Management Plan
(CMP). This Plan is to replace the 1995 CMP which still governs the ATP and can
now be found on the ATP Heritage Page. The second document awaiting exhibition
is the Eveleigh Heritage Interpretation Strategy. This document has been
produced by consultants as part of the Heritage Taskforce and Eveleigh Steering
Committee process and it aims to produce an interpretation plan that will cover
the entire former Eveleigh Railyard area irrespective of ownership. If you
would like to know more about the Heritage Taskforce or these two important
Heritage Exhibitions please contact Juliet Suich who is handling heritage
issues at the RWA / SMDA on Juliet.Suich@smda.nsw.gov.au
and she can add you to her heritage email list.

Over the last 12
months work has been done the by design company Frost to come up with a brand
for the Redfern area. Roll Up Redfern which includes the Council, RWA, Chamber
of Commerce, Souths Football Club and REDWatch has been overseeing this project
with funding from the City of Sydney and the Redfern Waterloo Authority. The
project has involved meetings with local people and a study of people in a 10km
radius of Redfern to assess their perceptions of and contact with the Redfern
area. There will be a media launch of the brand at the Return to Redfern day
run by South Sydney Rabbitohs on Saturday 5 February 2011.

On 9 February 2011
Frost will make a presentation for business and community organisations about
how the Redfern brand was developed. There will also be tips on how local
businesses and community organisations can use the new branding, Businesses and
community organisations will be encouraged to consider looking at how the new
brand can be used on their websites, leaflets, posters and other promotional
material. We encourage those involved in local businesses and community
organisations to attend and get an understanding of the process used to develop
the concepts for the branding and what some of the benefits may be. For
catering and seating purposes it is important to RSVP to RSVP@ssbchamber.com.au by 4th
February 2011. The Redfern Waterloo Chamber of Commerce recently expanded its
area and has become the South Sydney Business Chamber with a new website – www.ssbchamber.com.au.

Jo Fletcher from
Connect Redfern Schools as Community Centres Program has updated its lists for
Term 1 2011. You can find the latest lists on the REDWatch website under Find a Local Community Service
along with other information on finding local services through the Lincs Directory, as well as links to the RWA - Redfern Waterloo
Human Service Maps. The last year has seen long time services in the area
re-joined by the relocated Redfern Health Centre which is now operating from
the former Redfern Court House. The National Centre for Indigenous Excellence
has also had a successful first year providing a positive Redfern focus for a
wide range of Aboriginal activities from around the country. A number of new
services are also moving into the area.